Gubernatorial hopeful: GOP needs young vote

State Rep. Scott speaks to Clarke Republicans

Luring young voters into the Republican Party will be critical for victory in 2010 and beyond, a GOP candidate for governor said Monday.

Republicans will lose ground in Georgia and nationwide unless they can win over 18- to 24-year-old voters from the Democrats, state Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, told Clarke County Republicans.

"We've got to give that group a candidate they can believe in," Scott said.

Exit polls showed President Barack Obama winning 49 percent of Georgia voters in that demographic in 2008, better than the 47 percent of the vote he won overall. Nationwide, Obama won 66 percent of voters age 18 to 29, 12 points more than Sen. John Kerry won in 2004.

"We can't lose that next group of 18- to 24-year-olds coming out of college in this state," Scott said. "We've got to go after them, and they'll be a big part of my campaign."

Former Gov. Roy Barnes, the front-runner in the Democratic primary, is counting on those college-age voters to put him over the top in the general election, he said.

Scott's age - at 40, he is among the youngest of 12 candidates running for governor - and outsider status could make him an attractive choice for those young voters, though he is an underfunded and little-known dark horse in the race.

With redistricting coming after the 2010 Census and Obama running for re-election in 2012, the next governor will play an important role in his party's future success, Scott said. If a Democratic governor can veto district lines drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature, the GOP will be left with only a slim majority after the 2012 elections, he said.

Scott helped mount a successful legal challenge to Democrat-drawn district lines after the 2000 Census that helped Republicans take over state government.

"When we as Republicans got fair maps drawn, we won," he said. "And now here we are in Georgia fighting for our lives."